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Comics A.M. | Comiket 87 draws 180,000 on opening day

Conventions | About 180,000 people flocked to the Tokyo Big Sight on Sunday for the first day of Comiket 87, the world's largest convention dedicated to self-published comics. That's an increase of about 10,000 from the opening day of the summer edition -- Comiket is held twice yearly, in August and in December -- and about the same as last winter's event. Comiket continues through Tuesday. [Anime News Network]

Comics | Kevin Drum does some very loose calculations to check the claim that millennials are addicted to comics, and he reckons that given the current size of the market, about 2 percent of millennials are comics readers. [Mother Jones]

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Creators | Artist Raúl Gonzalez III (who goes by the pen name Raúl the Third) talks about illustrating the fanciful graphic novel Lowriders in Space, about three friends who detail their lowrider by driving it through outer space, and why the book is important: "This book has a full Latino cast. It has Spanish in it. It's not a folk tale and not about the struggle. It's just about dreamers." [El Paso Times]

Creators | Nina Azzarello covers an appearance by artist and designer Igor Kordey at Belgrade Design Week; Kordey, the artist for Smoke (written by Alex DeCampi), uses a variety of interesting panel shapes and unusual layouts, including the "fishbone," in his storytelling. [designboom]

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Creators | Malaysian cartoonist Mimi Mahud cites Lat (Kampung Boy) as one of her influences, as well as Guy Delisle, Craig Thompson, and Florent Chavouet, all of whom detailed their travels in nonfiction comics. A member of the "Urban Sketcher" movement, Mahud recently published her second travelogue comic, a guide to her mother's hometown of Kuala Terengganu. [Malay Mail]

Conventions | Pakistan's first comic convention took place Saturday at the Defence Library in Lahore; it featured both creators and cosplayers, and reporter Ayesha Mir took the time to talk to several of the creators present about their work. The organizers of the convention are a mother and son who also run their own publishing company. [The Express Tribune]

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Conventions | Auburndale, Florida, will also be getting its first comic convention, City Con, on Jan. 9-10. Mayor Keith Cowie admits he didn't know what a comic con was until his brother explained it to him, but he's game: "It's something new for the city, and it's something we can definitely grow on if we have the turnout we're expecting." And former Nick Arcade host Phil Moore, one of the guests at the con, says he enjoys smaller cons like this one, as the guests have more time to chat with the fans. "It's not on the scale of San Diego or New York, but everything has a beginning," he said. "Whatever this will end up being, the next one will be twice as large in 2016. Everybody is into this now." [The Ledger]

Conventions | Here's a look at the Quad Cities Comics Convention, one of those old-school events that consists mainly of dealers selling back issues and collectors buying them. [QCOnline]

Retailing | Super Shakes, in Burton, England, is a combination milkshake bar and comic shop, operated by three guys in their 20s who decided to go into the comics business after watching the TV show Comic Book Men. Their thinking is that parents will stop in to get milkshakes for their kids and be drawn in by the nostalgia factor of seeing the older comics. [Burton Mail]